SMX Live: Conversion Optimization Science

Below is live coverage of the Conversion Optimization Science panel from the SMX West 2011 conference. This coverage is provided by Keri Morgret of Strike Models.

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2:35:10 PMKeri Morgret:Conversion Optimization Science Testing alternative landing page content can dramatically increase conversion rates. But how do you come up with ideas for what to test? Should you go with straightforward A/B testing, or invest the time and resources to conduct more complex multivariate tests? How do you know when to stop? Or should testing and tuning be an ongoing optimization process? Our scientists will share their insights on these and other questions to help you get the most from your landing pages.

2:35:57 PMKeri Morgret:We're starting off with scott showing us a massive flow chart that he's thankfully printed out for us. He says it should also be available at http://searchengineland.com/a-post-click-marketing-heuristic-61806.

2:37:02 PMKeri Morgret:Starts thinking about the segment first. Questions he wants to ask:

Who are these respondents? How well can we get a sense of their identity?

What "job" are they looking to "hire" a product or service to do?

2:37:20 PMKeri Morgret:For a complex sale, who are the people that might be participating in the decision process?

2:38:28 PMKeri Morgret:Who is looking for this? Probably someone in technical, administrative aspect of the business. They're probably from a company that is public or thinking about going public (because of SOX in query).

2:40:16 PMKeri Morgret:He's talking about Milkshake Marketing. Link at http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6496.html for this topic.

2:41:30 PMKeri Morgret:What do these respondent want or expect in this context? What do they expect when they click?

After that immediate expectation is fulfilled, what is the next logical step?

2:43:13 PMKeri Morgret:

2:43:16 PMKeri Morgret:He's not a fan of a cookie-cutter landing page.

Ways your landing page could be arranged:

A single page with an immediate offer. A multi-step conversion path to guide and segment. A microsite to encourage focused learning and exploration. They are back and better than before, no longer flash junk. [this is example shown in image uploaded]

2:44:25 PMKeri Morgret:Segmentation: Axis of Choice. How do we give them choice? Showing example of New England Journal of Medicine.

2:45:14 PMKeri Morgret:

2:45:18 PMKeri Morgret:Here's another example of segmenting on the landing page so you can give targeted information to your visitor.

2:45:40 PMKeri Morgret:And this ultimately comes down to content.

2:46:30 PMKeri Morgret:Want to try to reach people on three levels: Rational and logical Emotional and intuitive Socialâ€”including social proof

2:47:10 PMKeri Morgret:Enjoying this session as he's showing a lot of real examples of what he's talking about.

2:47:14 PMKeri Morgret:

2:47:32 PMKeri Morgret:He's not going to spend much time talking about the traditional things in conversion optimization, given our limits on time.

2:48:52 PMKeri Morgret:Scott mentions post that Sandra made about optimizing the thank you page. http://searchengineland.com/conversion-optimized-touch-points-the-thank-you-page-44704

2:49:31 PMKeri Morgret:Conversion optimization is working with next steps. Not just looking at a single conversion.

2:50:04 PMKeri Morgret:He acknowledges he's skipping all the parts about all of the testing, but he feels that people jump too quickly into the testing mode.

2:50:44 PMKeri Morgret:Spend more time thinking about context and the big ideas before you start testing.

2:52:02 PMKeri Morgret:Khalid Saleh is now up.

2:53:20 PMKeri Morgret:He is starting us off with a "Which Test Won" quiz for landing pages.

2:54:26 PMKeri Morgret:

2:55:47 PMKeri Morgret:Conversion optimization is not about random testing, is not about prayer and just hoping something works.

2:57:13 PMKeri Morgret:CRO Process: Plan where to start to optimization process. Implement optimization using a framework. Improve in iterations

2:58:01 PMKeri Morgret:One of the biggest challenges is figuring out what you should change in the first place. Main image? Product image? Headline?

2:58:47 PMKeri Morgret:Visitor, Trust, Buying Stage, FUDS, Incentives, Engagement. This is part of their framework and how they start looking at things.

3:00:42 PMKeri Morgret:Now talking about developing personas. Logical, Impulsive, caring, aggressive. He has a blog post about this at http://www.invesp.com/blog/conversion-optimization/personas-understanding-the-4-main-temperaments.html.

done all the basics gotten to know your audience identified your best opportunities have funding

NOW WHAT??

3:09:29 PMKeri Morgret:Useful approaches to testing:

Think Small. We forget about the small things when we get in the mindset of looking at the huge things.

Go Modular.

Be Persistent

3:10:46 PMKeri Morgret:She's showing us a "before" example, and explaining how it was difficult to get at the code to test things. They changed just the copy and the "purchase now" button. That made 9% positive improvement in cart conversions. Hundreds of thousands in annual incremental revenue.

3:11:18 PMKeri Morgret:Another small example is being shown.

3:12:20 PMKeri Morgret:Increased size of headings, buttons, added header as some of the small changes. The 15 small changes resulted in 20% increase in site conversion.

3:17:24 PMKeri Morgret:You can chunk by function, importance, or placement.

3:17:55 PMKeri Morgret:Being persistent is a key, and has been emphasized by all three presenters.

3:19:06 PMKeri Morgret:In this case, they got good results, but didn't stop after the good results, broke things out even more granular for more testing. Another 30% increase in conversion rate after initial good reseults.

3:20:13 PMKeri Morgret:

3:20:59 PMKeri Morgret:Have we herded all the cats? she's showing a matrix that she uses to figure this out.

3:22:16 PMKeri Morgret:This has a great presentation, really packed with information, and I wish I could have conveyed more of it in this coverage.

3:22:36 PMKeri Morgret:Q&A time.

3:23:02 PMKeri Morgret:How many personas is too many? Khalid: Seven, and they usually try to do just the four.

3:24:03 PMKeri Morgret:Social proof is good for credibility. Variation internationally in this.

3:27:04 PMKeri Morgret:Multiple changes: how do you know what worked? Khalid: needs a hypothesis behind each change. Which hypothesis helped and did not help? Scott: Recommends two different types of testing. A/B testing with radically different tests. Multivariate testing is after that.

3:29:15 PMKeri Morgret:The thing I notice here is that people aren't talking about impact of outside things like seasonality, changes in PPC campaign, etc. Even if you do make just one change at a time, you need to take other factors into consideration. This was talked about much more in the PPC sessions.